The Death of LAN Gaming

LAN parties, they may be small spontaneous events at a friends house or large well organized events involving thousands of people. In the past most if not all games permitted LAN play between people who did not own their own copy of the game. This option was there because up until early 2000 high speed broadband internet was not really an easily available or economic option for most households, this made online play troublesome and laggy, this is why gamers sometimes preferred high speed LAN play. 

LAN parties offered more than just better connection, they offered gamers a much more enjoyable gaming experience. It’s always more fun knowing you’re PWNing another player in the same room as you are. Games such as Starcraft, Diablo 2, Unreal Tournament, Quake, and Counter-Strike were enjoyed in the 90’s while games such as Call of Duty 4, and Left 4 Dead were played in the early 2000’s. But recently game companies are removing the option of LAN gaming because of the availability of high speed internet, to cut down on pirating and also as an effort to increase sales, the idea is that if consumers can’t play multiplayer game for free then they might as well buy the game. 

Because of this, games such as Starcraft 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Left 4 Dead 2 don’t offer gamers that enjoyable LAN experience like their older counterparts. Sooner or later, as older games lose their appeal, it seems that the LAN party will disappear forever in gaming history as a dead gaming culture.